Estate Agent Leaflets – All Your Business Needs…

Marketing plays a huge role in the selling of properties; estate agents that recognise this are already one step ahead of the crowd. One such way of doing this is through estate agent leaflets.

While it is hard to measure exactly how successful they can be in terms of return-on-investment, the Direct Marketing Association reports that 89% of consumers can recall receiving a door drop mailing – this is higher than any other marketing channel. Likewise, 45% keep these leaflets either on a pin-board or in their kitchen drawer.

When it comes to getting new leads and attracting customers, canvassing through leaflets and flyers can be a particularly effective and popular method. But which is the right choice for you?

Sales leaflets

One of the most common types of communications are the sales leaflets. These are appealing to customers who are thinking of selling their house or who are looking to buy – whether for the first time or as their next house-buyer move. Distributing these leaflets is quick, easy and economical to do, but can play a key role in increasing valuations and gaining new residential sales.

By sending leaflets to customers, you are helping to increase awareness of your brand and the types of houses you sell. You are also helping to create a sense of trust and confidence; people will start to feel as though they ‘know’ you. Even though not all the people you post leaflets to will be in a position to sell their home or buy, it is about making sure when the time does come, that you’re the name they remember. It’s not often that people move house, and therefore capturing them at that moment can be crucial to your success.

As the Office for National Statistics notes, in 2014 the UK housing market consisted of 28.1 million residential properties. With house prices rising, it has become a particularly competitive market. On average, house prices have been increasing by 7% each year since 1980. Since this time, the greatest annual increase in the cost of houses occurred in 1988, when house prices rose by 25.6%.

The economic downturn of 2008 had a particularly considerable impact on the UK housing market, which also impacted the lending criteria for mortgages. This also meant that sales dropped; in 2006, there were 1.67 million property sales in the UK. This almost halved in 2009 to 0.85 million. However, this has been recovering and in 2015, this was at 1.23 million. Being able to capture people’s attention and instil buying confidence in them is crucial to continuing this positive trajectory.

Your sales leaflets can be designed however you want them to look. This is great for ensuring your branding is visible and that they fit in with your company aesthetic. Often people won’t read a lot of text, so the simpler and more eye-catching they are, the better. Bold colours, clear typography, attractive imagery and a strong headline will make a big difference. It is also important you put any key information on there, such as contact details, your logo, prices, and so on.

Sales backs

A leaflet needs to be a two-sided affair. There’s no point losing out on 50% extra marketing – a blank page can leave your leaflet looking like you’ve not made much effort. You can also never guarantee what side will be facing upwards when the flyer lands on your potential customer’s door-mat. You need to make a good impression from the get-go.

Once you have decided how you want the front of your leaflet from Prestige Print to look, it’s time to start thinking about the back. You can either go for a matching front and back, or opt for a ‘pick and mix’ style to create a flexible and unique aesthetic. Ultimately, whatever you choose should complement your leaflet – anything too confusing will put your audience off. The leaflet will be fighting for their attention, when it should feel like a natural, subtle communication.

Some of the key pieces of information to add on the back include an invitation for valuation. This needs to be a strong call to action, which will make your audience understand what you need from them. Putting your information in clear lists with bullet points can ensure your content is easy to scan and quick to read. People have very limited attention spans nowadays. These lists could include your USP, any special offers or promotions you have, why people should work with you, what you can offer your customers, and so forth.

Also valuable are testimonials, which show customers that other people have had a positive experience with you. This helps to instil a sense of trust and confidence in your work. Likewise, including symbols of your success, such as sold signs with properties in the neighbouring area, can help your audience to see your previous work and can also show your versatility and typical portfolio.

If the houses are ones they might recognise from living nearby, this can further develop their confidence as these will be houses they are familiar with. It also means they can find neighbours to talk to about their experiences. Other important elements to include are slogans that highlight the market trends – “More houses are selling than ever before… is yours one of them?” It is always a good idea to show your potential customer why now is a really good time to move.

Lettings leaflets

It’s not just house-buyers you need to be targeting. There is also a large rental market. In fact, according to Paragon, in 2014 there were two million private landlords who owned and let a total of five million properties across the UK. Additionally, the English Housing Survey found that between 2014 and 2015, a total of 19% of households across Britain, which is equivalent to 4.3 million, were privately renting. It is estimated by the PwC that by 2021, a projected 59% of all 20 to 39-year-olds will be privately renting in England.

Your lettings leaflets need to appeal to both prospective landlords (whose property you want to represent) and tenants (who you’d like to find property for). However, your leaflets need to have a clear audience. If you don’t, this can make your marketing material too vague and can put people off with following up.

As with sales leaflets, you need to ensure your branding is visually pleasing, cohesive and eye-catching. Bold headlines, strong colours, easy-to-scan text and attractive images all work well. A lot of estate agents will scan in their handwritten messages and put these on the leaflets to give it a personal touch and to help create a one-on-one connection. Again, having a double-sided leaflet is important for capturing your audience’s attention from the start and giving a professional finish.

These leaflets are a particularly cost-effective solution; the first 10,000 will cost £375, with a run-on fee of £250 for 10,000 or more. This price is inclusive of the design and mainland UK delivery.

Shaped leaflets

If you want to really stand out as being different, you need to do something that no one else is doing. Shaped leaflets from Prestige Print are a unique way to capture your potential audience’s attention, whether they’re a buyer, seller, landlord or tenant. You can create something particularly special with a shaped leaflet.

All shaped flyers have been die-cut, and can be designed and developed with a range of shapes and styles to give you a flexible, personalised choice. These include houses, keys, shoes, feet, circles and geotags. You could also choose to send out a long and thin panoramic leaflet, which is different to the typical rectangle or square shape. For perhaps obvious reasons, the house design is the most popular choice for estate agent leaflets.

You can also add your own design to the surface of the leaflet, which will help to create a bespoke, eye-catching piece of marketing collateral. With so much competition in today’s property market, turning heads can be the difference in how many houses you are able to sell or rent. It’s a low-cost investment with great returns.

Themed leaflets

There are many other reasons for why you might want to contact people in your local area beyond getting them to sell or rent their properties with you, or to use you when they are buying and renting. Other reasons for why you might send out flyers include letting people know you have moved offices.

Alternatively, you might want to send out flyers that show which properties have sold in the local area. This can help show that you are active, but also gives an indication of your portfolio.

You might also be keen to send out a marketing leaflet when you have a special offer on to let everyone know about this, or to show that it is an anniversary for your business. You might want to send out useful designs, such as calendars, or something seasonal – for example, a design based around Christmas, Easter, or Valentine’s Day.

If you want to design your own bespoke estate agent leaflet or flyer, get in touch with us at Prestige Print today to find out more. We can talk you through our products and show you a range of eye-catching designs from our previous work. Call us now to speak with one of our experts.